I’m missing it.

… running that is. Because of an injury, together with being insanely busy and the injury being a convenient excuse not to get off my bum and run, I haven’t really stuck to any running routine at all so far this year. While, luckily, that hasn’t resulted in a major increase of my waistline (although a little bit more is there, I think) I really have to take this up again – and stop making excuses about why I can’t.

Last weekend I went with my ex (BF1) to cheer him on while he ran another Half. Yes, while he has always been quite hit and miss with regards to running during the week (largely because he gets up insanely early and comes back late at night because of his job), he kept at it – and managed to get another Half done.

While I waited for him at the finish-line, I really felt how much I miss running. I know, it can be the most annoying thing to have to get up early morning when it is raining, and to go for a run in London weather – just because I have a “training schedule”. And yes, I was always a bit better at sticking with those then he was. But, especially at weekends, it was often quite a lot of fun.

The weekends were always “the long” runs. And in many ways, they were the most fun. I started off running alone, before my ex joined. Of course, together, it was even more fun. And I quite liked finding new routes and places where to run. Of course, after a few years, I got a bit lazy with that. But there should really be no good excuse to not take it up again – and find some new routes in a new city… especially once I’m in Lisbon.

It seems like there are some very scenic routes in Lisbon (see here). Of the suggested five routes, the only route I ever ran is the Belem route, a few years back. So some more to explore. Even better, there is the Lisbon Half in March 2016. That should give me something to aim at, and it should give me enough time (hopefully) not to have another injury. My doctor warned me to take it slowly when starting again… Probably because the injury I had was because I didn’t really train as much as I should have last year while I was in HK, and then immediately took part in a Half. It all went ok, but things started to hurt from there on – and became so bad, that I had to stop completely in January. Anyway… something to look forward to – and maybe I find some cool routes that I can share here.

One thing I haven’t found is a Lisbon equivalent of the Frontrunners, the London LGBT+ running club. I haven’t managed to ever get around to joining them regularly, but took part in some of their events – and that seemed like a lot of fun. So if there is anything like them out there…. and you know about it… please let me know! At least I should be more “in town” in Lisbon, rather than constantly traveling. And a weekly running group would be great fun!